Salvatore Ferragamo shoes - dating and material?

[plousia]

80s? 90s? And what might the outer material be? It's not leather, it's a kind of ribbed texture fabric, I think.

 

[plousia]

Actually looking at the material more closely, it appears to be suede with some kind of pattern, which is the shiny lines. The lines are lower than the nap of the suede, which is raised above them, but I can't tell if the lines are just the skin of the leather or some kind of treatment applied to it. Does that ring a bell to anyone? I found some SF shoes on Etsy with what looked like the same treatment and the seller is calling it velvet, but I am fairly sure it's suede, just never saw it patterned like this.

 

[MagsRags]

What you are describing sounds like embossed suede, done in a linear pattern.

If the upper is not leather/suede, it probably says so somewhere inside the shoe.

 

[plousia]

Embossed suede, that makes perfect sense, thank you.

Any ideas about date? I'm thinking 90s but really don't know. It seems like a classic style that could be more recent as well.

 

[Jonathan]

In the shoe business it's called 'boarding', because it was originally done with a board - to impress a pattern onto the suede or leather. It's probalby a waxed stamp that created the pattern. These look pretty classic late 80s - early 90s to me. That low heeled closed pump style, with a tapered toe and shaped cuban heel, was around from about 1987 to 1993 with little change. Primcess Diana wore them all the time.

 

[plousia]

Thanks very much Jonathan, very educational.